


Two Travelers Meet On A Mountainside...

by zephsomething



Series: Surviving the War [33]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, kind of I think its cute at least, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 17:10:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21039788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephsomething/pseuds/zephsomething
Summary: Luna goes hiking instead of checking in with her boss, she doesn't find the creature she may or may not be tracking, but she does find a boy.





	Two Travelers Meet On A Mountainside...

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to my sister for editing these, and also to you lot for reading them.

It had been four summers since the battle of Hogwarts, three since Luna had gotten her NEWTs there, and instead of doing any number of the things people had told her she should, she was climbing a mountain. She was tracking the prints of something that might have been what she’d been sent to track by her latest boss but she wasn’t entirely sure. Then again he hadn’t been sure what was causing the muggle rumours of something in the mountains anyway. She’d had a partner at some point but there’d been more signs of some large, trolls or giants or some such, and less signs of the something they were supposed to be tracking so the little witch had apparated back to give her report to their boss. When she’d asked whether Luna was coming or not Luna had simply given her a small smile and asked if she’d noticed how out here it seemed like you could float away if you tried hard enough. She’d seen more unlikely things happen than finding a creature somewhere it looks like it’s not, but she wasn’t offended when the little witch made a disapproving noise rather than answering.

“I’ve reached the end of the world.” She smiled dreamily as she looked out across the tops of the cloud cover. For a moment she stood and watched the clouds shift, wondering at how many people had stood here before and what they’d seen.

Then she heard a sound floating down the mountain that didn’t quite sound like a creature and didn’t quite sound like a human either. She she set off up the mountain with her wand tucked behind her ear and a good walking stick in her hand. Several more minutes up the hill she found a boy sitting on a rock and crying. He looked about the same age as her and the only thing marking him as a wizard was the wand sticking out of his back pocket. A foolish place to keep a wand really, boys.

“Have you got wrackspurts?” She asked conversationally and he spun to face her so fast he almost fell off the rock. “They get in your ears, make your brain go all gray you know?”

“Maybe.” He nodded wiping his eyes. “I think it was probably just the boggart though, it’s in that cave.”

She glanced in the direction he indicated to see a small hole in the edge of the cliff. “I knew a man whose boggart was the moon.”

“The moon?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Mhm.” Luna nodded and walked around him towards the hole. As soon as she could see into it she heard the noise in the far back of it. She swished her wand, not quite how Lupin had taught them but not altogether different either. “Riddikulus.”

There was a popping noise followed by silence. Luna peered into the cave but it was long gone now. Scared off by the arrival of someone willing to fight it.

“There's giants around here too, or trolls maybe, I've seen markers but not whichever it is.” His voice held that note so many people got when talking to her, like they weren't sure if she was properly aware of reality. “Are you alone?”

“Are you?” She shrugged, a movement that traveled from her shoulders down to her fingertips.

“My family has a history of traveling alone.” His shrug was a jerky thing, one shoulder lifting and falling so fast it almost wasn’t a shrug at all.

“I have a history of traveling alone.” She returned and it rang both more and less true than it had in years. “I’m here because my boss heard rumours of something out here and wants to know if he needs to send someone from the ministry to modify muggles memories.”

“I’m out here tracking a herd of Thestrals, I’m a magizoologist.” He looked at her a moment before he continued. “Are you?”

She thought about it a moment, carefully considering the meaning of the label. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“And you’re not worried about mountain trolls or giants?” He asked, dusting himself off as he stood up again. “They’re dangerous even if you’re trained.”

“I know a couple of boys who knocked out a mountain troll at eleven.” She shrugged again and continued her hike along the cliff.

“Eleven?” He followed her, leaning forward to peer at her. “Years?”

“Halloween of their first year of Hogwarts.” She turned so she could see his eyes widen. “They weren’t even particularly clever boys.”

“Lucky? Calm under pressure?” The guesses weren’t bad ones but they set Luna laughing so hard she nearly tripped. “No?”

After a few breaths to calm her laughter she shook her head. “Not exactly. Good at getting into and out of dangerous situations though, Gryffindors, you know?”

“Huh.” He nodded a few times as he followed her. His tone implied he didn't, get it that is, but she didn't point that out.

As the sky started to go dark around the edges Luna started looking for a place to pitch her tent. He started setting up his own beside hers and she walked around the both of them setting out wards for muggle repelling, hiding, to keep the rain off, and defense. By the time she was done he had a fire going and was watching her oddly.

“Were you in the war?” His head was tilted and he was watching her with an expression she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t pity, and it wasn’t fear but she couldn’t quite place it. She glanced back at the circle she’d walked into the ground and nodded once. “I thought so.”

“I was at Hogwarts for part of it, then I was captured for a while.” She offered when he didn’t push for her to tell her more, took a seat on a log across the fire from him as she talked. “It was during my sixth year.”

“I didn’t even realize it was happening until the snatchers came for my family.” He leaned back slightly. “We were traveling you see, tracking a dragon that was straying too close to muggle areas.”

“I went back after.” Luna looked up as the stars started to show themselves. “For my NEWTs, I got herbology, charms, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts, and astronomy.”

“I got NEWTs in transfiguration, potions, care of magical creatures, charms, and ancient runes.” He grinned and pulled a frying pan and some sausages out of his bag. “Want some?”

“Please.” She nodded and let her most whimsical smile creep onto her face. “My name is Luna Lovegood.”

He looked startled for a moment, like perhaps he’d only just realized they’d not exchanged names yet. “I’m Rolf Scamander.”

Luna tried for only a second to hold back her laughter but it bubbled out anyway. So instead she laughed so hard she shook, and then fell backwards off the log.

“That is not the usual response.” He had a bemused sort of smile on his face when she looked up.

“Your name sounds like the noise an offended cat makes.” She tried for serious and missed as another round of giggles bubbled up and out.

“At least I didn’t get my grandfather’s name.” He shrugged. “His name is Newt.”

“He wrote a book.” She nodded as he handed her some fried sausage on a plate he’d also pulled out of his bag.

“Yeah he did.” Rolf nodded and popped a sausage in his mouth. “He was always editing the thing as we traveled.”

“Well things are always changing.” As she said it she was watching the clouds above them twist and shift.

She wasn’t looking at his face but his tone was thoughtful when he responded. “That they are.”


End file.
